The distant adoption is an act of love towards a distant person. It means to give children or an adult person - who finds himself/herself in a particularly difficult situation, the possibility to grow in his own country, respecting his own culture and his/her human being dignity. It means to give, but also to receive: to give food, medicines, the affection of distant people who care for his growth and participate to his life. The distant adoption is a precious instrument to improve life of thousands of people and can be considered an intervention to reduce poverty. All of this just through a limited and continuos economic commitment: the distant adoption in fact, contemplates a lasting economic commitment and not just a one time offer. The adopted person enters inside the balance and the history of a family as a constant presence.

It is not a normal adoption. Between the family and the adopted children there is not any legal tie and the child is not uprooted from his culture. He goes on, in fact, living in his own country and, when possible, with his own family. With the help of his "parents" or better, his tutors, he can build his future. The aim is to make these children become independent adult people, with a profession or an occupation with which they can help not just themselves, but even their country.

He was born on 17/3/2000. His mother is called Asha Ali and his father Juma Mndalu. The mother was not married to his father and so Abdalla was born out of wedlock.

According to the Mijikenda traditions a child born out of wedlock remains with his/her grandparents. This is why Abdalla was born and brought up at his grandfather’s home. His grandmother and mother work very hard to provide for the family needs. His grandfather died many years ago.

Since birth, Abdalla’s health had not been so good – falling sick quite often from either colds, malaria or pneumonia. When he fell sick, the mother would take him to the medical facilities in the village, most of which lack modern equipment and even drugs were sometimes not available. The clinical officers had to give a prescription instructing the mother to buy the medicine from the chemist.

Sometimes the mother would come to me for help – though sometimes she just assumed the problem was not serious and didn’t take the trouble to look for money to buy the medicines. This is because, most of the time she struggles to get their daily meals.

Abdalla was involved in a fire accident when he was 5 years old. He sustained serious body injuries from this accident and the chest was mostly affected. The pains on his chest became even worse when he caught up colds or malaria.

On 8th March, he fell sick and was taken to the nearby dispensary where he was given anti malaria drugs. He took this for some days but his condition never improved. He was taken to another dispensary where the clinical officer referred him to a more advanced hospital in town (Portreitz hospital). Here, the doctor X-rayed the chest and gave him some drugs. He told them to come back home. He took the medicine for a few days and his condition seemed to improve a bit.

I went to see him at their home and found him playing. He told me he was feeling better. I left him with high hopes that his condition was stable.

Three days later, the mother came to me and asked me to give her some money to take Abdalla to the Provincial hospital in town as his condition was becoming worse. I gave her some money and promised to meet her at the hospital later during the day.

When they arrived at the hospital, he was admitted so that the doctors could monitor his condition more closely. An X-ray was again taken on the chest and several other tests were carried out to determine the cause of the problem.

The doctors found out that he had been suffering from pneumonia which had not been diagnosed and treated in good time. They started the treatment for pneumonia and after about a week, Abdalla showed great signs of improvement.

David and I visited him at the hospital daily and we could chat and laugh with him at his hospital bed. He would sometimes ask us to get him out of the ward so that he could get fresh air as he was tired sitting or sleeping on the bed all the time.

He would ask us to buy him a soda and cake. I would buy him the soda, cake, milk and some fruits. He was a boy with special qualities – so charming. He had great intelligence and one would wonder whether this was a boy of only 8 years.

He would tell his mother not to worry so much about him as he would soon be out of the hospital and start going to school with his friends. At one time, he asked his mother to go to school and collect his examination papers so that he could do the exam at the hospital bed. He would say, how will John get my examination results to send to my sponsor – Mrs. Alessandra?

He had very high hopes of meeting Mrs. Alessandra one day. Just a day before he passed on, I was at the hospital. He asked me for a soda as usual. I bought him the soda and a cake. He then asked me why I had not brought him his photograph (snap) that had been taken by David a few days ago. I told him I would bring him the photo when the film was over and the pictures are developed.

He insisted that he wanted to come home with me so that he could be going to school with his friends. He told me he was fed up being in hospital.

Later in the day after I had left, he started telling his mother – “you better cry mum, today I will die”. He said this several times until his mother became worried, wondering why he was saying this, yet his condition wasn’t so bad.

At around 9.00pm, the doctors had started putting him on drip – water first then blood – when he just closed his eyes as if asleep. A few seconds later, his mother discovered that Abdalla was no longer breathing. He had passed on quietly and peacefully without even raising the attention of the doctors who were attending to him.

This is all about Abdalla Juma – a boy we loved so much for his cheerfulness, talkativeness, open hearted and a very bright student at school. He was a boy with great potentiality to become a great personality in the community. Abdalla left us on 16/4/08 at 9.00pm. We all loved him, but God loved him more. May his soul rest in peace.

At this point, we wish to thank Captain Claudio, Captain Alex, Mrs. Alessandra and all the friends for offering to assist us in a very special way. The funds Captain Claudio sent for Abdalla’s school fees for his second year was really very helpful to us during his sickness and even after he died, because the mother and grandmother had nothing completely.

It would have been very embarrassing for us if we couldn’t provide any financial support to them.

(omesso il rapporto delle spese)

On behalf of Abdalla’s mother, grandmother and all the family members, we pass to you our heartfelt gratitude and may our loving God bless you abundantly.